The Court of Justice of the European Union has just handed down several rulings outlawing software installed on diesel cars that was discovered during Dieselgate.

This “thermal window” system is being systematically improved the performance of the pollutant gas control system during approval procedures.

Indeed, the NOx emission filtering system is reduced or switched off when the temperature is too low and exceeds a certain altitude. Nevertheless, for manufacturers, this is an important engine protection system against possible malfunctions.

Several million models were affected in Europe

So of the 53 million diesel cars sold in the European Union and the United Kingdom between 2009 and 2019, 24 million vehicles produced – 19 million still in operation, including 3.3 million in France – had emissions.” suspicious compared to the decisions of the Court of the European Union, reports the environmental organization ICCT.

Sixteen million vehicles even show qualified emission levels extremes“, that is, they exceed the official limit by three to four times. These excessive emissions indicate “probable use » engine calibration strategies, prohibited.

Several million reminders expected?

There are more than 200 models sold by many manufacturers under the Euro 5 and Euro 6 standards. The list of manufacturers would be quite large, and only Mercedes has responded so far.

Mercedes-Benz, which is involved in the case, said that ” remains to be seen » how national courts will interpret decisions of European courts. This was clarified by the German manufacturer its diesel cars were recalled and received relevant software updates” can be used without restrictions” .

To compile this report, ICCT analyzed three sources of data on NOx emissions:

• laboratory and field research data provided by state bodies;
• tests in real conditions conducted by independent organizations;
• a large database of remote sensing measurements.